Sabbatical Safety: Caution vs Paranoia

Travel safety concerns are one of the biggest obstacles that keep women from seeing the world, but pretty often, our worries are the imagined dragons of people who have never actually traveled.

News reports tend to focus on the most sensational tragedies with the grizzliest details, and people who lack their own experiences tend to trust those reports as accurate depictions of an entire country. Does a crime in a neighborhood across town mean that your hometown is entirely unsafe and must be avoided at all costs? Of course not. Likewise, unrest in one rural area of a foreign country doesn’t mean you’d be at risk in one of its larger cities. Before writing off an entire region, watch the local news and see what gets reported there.

In reality, staying safe overseas is not much different to staying safe at home.

Basic precautions like remaining aware of your surroundings and keeping valuables well-secured go a long way towards reducing your vulnerability, whether you’re in small-town America, a European capital, or a Middle Eastern village.

The primary difference between safety at home and safety in travel, is how familiar you are with your surroundings. Visibly appearing lost or making large displays of wealth can single you out as a tourist and attract the wrong kind of attention. A little effort to blend in here and a touch of feigned confidence there can close the gap.

Being prepared for a wrong turn isn’t the same as expecting it.

Case in point: one afternoon, when I was a 20something woman living alone, a stranger chased me down the street as I was on my way home from work. At first, I thought maybe I had dropped something and he was returning it. Instead, he cornered me near the back door of my apartment building and said he watches me walk down that street every day and I am “extremely hot.”

In that instance, I could have very easily overestimated the threat to my safety. But we have gut instincts and good judgment. I figured this was in all likelihood a decent enough guy who believed he was complimenting me. I firmly explained that I felt uncomfortable and thought he was being inappropriate. He apologized and left me alone.

If he had used vulgar language, tried to touch me, or been more aggressive in any way, a different course of action would have been warranted. As is, this was a threatening situation, not a predatory or menacing one and the experience actually bolstered my confidence.

Self defense and keeping yourself safe isn’t all about knowing how to throw a punch. It’s about awareness, judgment, knowing and expressing your boundaries. It’s about caution, not paranoia.

Even though this incident happened in my hometown, rather than during travel, the same principles apply.

Having emergency contact numbers in your phone, knowing self-defense, and carrying a decoy wallet may all be smart precautions. Equally smart is knowing the right time to use them.

Staying safe while traveling is actually quite similar to staying healthy. A few common sense precautions often do the trick.